Cursing under her breath, Kennel crushed a dragon’s tooth between two large, smooth rocks she’d found by the stream. Despite the bizarre circumstances of the morning, waking up to discover she’d inadvertently whisked herself away to another reality, her day hadn’t been all that terrible - well, for the most part. Though she and Leech had managed to rake in enough bits for a pizza, drinks, and even some extra garlic knots, things had inevitably taken a turn.
“You get that fire going?” she called out, looking over her shoulder at the encampment.
With her horn buried in a bundle of tinder, Leech glared over at her guest. “It’s not like I’m not trying. I told you I ain’t good with magic.”
“Remind me to try and teach you some arcane fundamentals,” the pegasus grouched.
While her host was incredibly savvy and street-smart, she couldn’t fathom how the unicorn didn’t have a grasp of basic sorcery. Unlike herself, the mare actually had the inane means to cast magic, something she’d taught herself through the use of her charmed collar, yet Leech didn’t seem capable of casting even the simplest spell. Rubbing the two stones together, grinding the sturdy enamel of the fang into the finest powder she could manage, she shook her head.
The night was swiftly approaching, with the sun dipping over the horizon, and a chill was already in the air. Leech had had the forethought to check a newspaper before they’d left town, discovering that a cold front was moving through the area - still, though the forecast was useful, it didn’t exactly help their situation. It would have been bad enough to not to have any proper shelter, but going without a fire to warm themselves would be downright tragic.
Grunting in frustration, Leech stood and marched back to her meager trove of supplies. “How about you make a fire and I’ll mill that tooth down?”
“Because you’re probably stronger than I am and because my magic doesn’t work that way. My choker lets me manipulate things, but it can’t just spontaneously generate material or make something from nothing,” Kennel countered.
Leech had been in relatively good spirits, all things considered, but running out of matches had soured her mood. It was supposed to get close to freezing, she only had one windbreak, and she didn’t have much to keep them warm. With only a single blanket and a minotaurian hoodie she’d managed to grab from a thrift shop, they were going to be in for a long night.
“Hey, quick question,” she shouted, rummaging through her effects, “you got a problem sleeping with me?”
“What?” the pegasus responded, her concentration sundered. “You mean, like, in an intimate way or a platonic way?”
“I mean in the ‘maybe we won’t get pneumonia’ way,” the unicorn hollered back.
Abandoning her efforts, feeling the wind starting to pick up, Kennel gathered the dust she’d managed to produce into a piece of paper, tied it with a length of twine, and retreated back to the relative shelter of her sanctuary. There was nothing saying she had to cast the spell to be sent home that day, but she wasn’t exactly looking forward to spending the night outdoors.
As she came around the makeshift wall, spying her companion rummaging about in a satchel, her eyes settled on a single, threadbare blanket on the ground. “Please tell me you have more than one blanket…”
“Nope,” Leech chipperly noted, “but I have a plan. Go grab as many rocks as you can from near the stream - the bigger the better. I haven’t frozen to death a single time, and I don’t plan on popping that cherry.”
Kennel set the pulverized tooth down and scampered back to the brook. She had no idea what the rocks were supposed to be for, but she trusted Leech as much as she would trust anypony who’d managed to survive on their own for years. Leaving her friend to hopefully get a fire started, she rushed back to the water’s edge.
“Thank fuck,” Leech whispered to herself, finding a second pack of matches.
Looking back at the fire pit, noticing it wasn’t in the best area, she scrunched her snout. If she’d known they were going to get a cold snap, she would have constructed her camp differently, but it was too late to fuck around with trying to reconstruct the wall. They had food in their bellies, and they should be able to keep each other warm, so they’d be fine - she hoped.
Seeing the pegasus moving closer, carrying one large stone on her back and kicking another, she picked a match from the book, struck it and placed it in the tinder. “Ok, put those as close to the fire as you can manage. If you can find about three or four more rocks that size, that’d be great - if not, don’t sweat it. I’m gonna get our bed ready.”
With a strained grunt, Kennel heaved the small boulders into place. “I saw a few more on the shore, so I should…What the hell are you doing?”
She’d assumed the stones were to protect the fire, yet that thought was upended when she saw Leech pawing at the earth. Unless the mare was planning on sleeping in a hole with her, she couldn’t explain what she was seeing. Trotting closer, she cocked her head to the side.
“Old - Unf - trick. You fill a trough with hot stones, bury them, then put your bedroll on them. Think of it like a vintage heated blanket,” Leech huffed, kicking dirt away. “Plus if I can get this deep enough, it’ll help keep the wind off us.”
“I…Huh…” Kennel mumbled. “I gotta say, you seem like you’d be useful in a pinch.”
Peering back at her with a sly grin and twinkle in her eye, the unicorn tittered. “Just remember that in a few hours. Fair warning, I’m a bit of a cuddler.”
Turning around and strolling back to the water’s edge, looking up at the dark, clouded sky, Kennel’s thoughts wandered. It was sad to think that her companion had to make due with so little, but it was wildly inspiring that the mare not only managed to get by but somehow maintained a chipper disposition. If she’d been home, her home, she would have invited Leech to stay for a while, if only until she got her hooves under herself - regrettably, she couldn’t do much to help herself, much less her friend.
Bucking a particularly large stone from the soil, she began rolling the rock up the embankment and toward the camp. Seeing the unicorn digging away, contentedly humming to herself, she grimaced - sure, she may not have known the pony for long, less than an entire day, yet she felt bad regardless. She’d never really given much consideration to her modest, two bedroom home, but her somber circumstances made her miss the comfort of a bed - moreover, she felt a pang of guilt for having undervalued creature comforts.
“There ya go, right there,” Leech remarked, giving an approving nod as she placed the stone by the soundly burning fire. “Two or three more like that and we should be good. Now if you can just find some graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, we’ll be able to really call this camping.”
“Say,” she began, rubbing the back of her neck, “this might be a dumb question, but are you happy living like this?”
The unicorn cocked her head and slowed, turning her attention to her guest. “Happy enough, I guess. I just wish I’d known about this shitt weather we’re supposed to be getting.”
Inching closer, Kennel gave a sheepish grin. “If, and that’s a damn big if, I could bring you back with me, would you want to come along? It’s not like I’m loaded or anything, but you could crash in my spare room for a while if you wanted - you know, at least long enough for you to get a job and -”
“Look, I get that you’re trying to be nice, but I’ve been through this song and dance before. I’ve been offered couches here and there - heck, I even had a few ‘lucky breaks’,” the unicorn scoffed, lifting and quoting with her forehooves, “but it never works out. I’m thinking that this is the first time you’ve had to rough it and now you’re feeling sentimental.”
She reflexively took a step back, taken by surprise by the poignant observation. “I mean it is, but -”
“Seriously, don’t sweat it. I appreciate the offer, I really do, but I’d just be bumming around on another world before too long,” Leech interrupted, willing her grin not to waver. “I know how things work here, so I’ll be just fine.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned her attention back to the task at hoof and kept digging. She realized the pegasus meant well, but she also knew the feeling would be fleeting. If everything worked out, Kennel would be home soon and, with or without her, she’d forget the experience of being without and go back to her usual routine. As nice as it was to be offered a roof, if only temporarily, she’d rather stay where she was - after all, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.
Peeking over, noticing her companion going back to fetch another stone or two, she finished with the trench and stepped over to the mound of earth she’d created. While she wouldn’t have a ton of dirt to work with, after she’d buried the heated rocks, even a shallow secondary wall would offer a bit of added protection from the wind. Shuffling the soil into a tiny berm with her forehooves, she crossed her hooves that they weren’t going to be in for a long string of bad weather.
With the preparations made, preparing to hunker down for the night, Leech was joined by her company by the crackling fire. “Since you might know how to get back home, do you have any idea how you ended up here?”
“This might sound dumb, but I was trying to find my special somepony,” Kennel murmured, staring into the embers.
Stepping beside the pegasus, Leech nodded. “Trying to settle down and start a family?”
“Nah,” Kennel scoffed. “I was hoping to find a nice, strong, preferably well-hung house-stud, but you see where that landed me.”
“I may not have a cock, but if you get me a strapon,” Leech chuckled, elbowing her friend, “I’m pretty sure I could scratch that itch for ya.”
Kennel laughed, but there was no heart in it. Her longing to find true love had landed her in one of the worst situations she’d been in, making her quest to find a mate seem downright trivial in comparison. If reversing the spell did work, she’d have to reevaluate her circumstances - if it didn’t, there was a very real chance she’d have to start life anew.
Leaning over and snatching a broken stick from the pile of firewood, she prodded one of the stones she’d gathered. “How long until they’re hot?”
“Shouldn’t be too long,” the unicorn noted, trotting to her satchel and retrieving the large hoodie. “I only have one of these, but you can use it.”
As her host tossed the garment to her, Kennel pursed her lips. “No, I’ll be fine, you should use it.”
“Bullshit,” Leech insisted. “You’re my guest and I say you get to use it. It ain’t like it’s dirty or anything.”
Kennel lifted and studied the oversized sweater, only then realizing its size. “What if we either pop the seam and use it as a blanket or both squeeze in it.”
“Hmmmm,” the unicorn hummed, rubbing her chin. “That’s kinda gay, but I like the way you think. And you’re totally ok with snuggling up with a hobo?”
“First time for everything,” the pegasus snickered. “I ain’t saying you get to use the best ear warmers on the planet,” she added, reaching back and caressing her thigh, “so don’t get your hopes up on that one.”
“Damn,” Leech groused, kicking at the dirt beneath her. “And here I thought I’d get to check the ‘fuck somepony from another dimension’ off my bucket list.”
Kennel tried to hold back her laughter, but it was no use. Once again, over the span of a mere day, her guide proved to have an almost infectious air of positivity about her. “And you’re sure you don’t want to come with me? I could use somepony like you around.”
“I’d just be a bother. Having a unicorn around who can’t use magic, eats out of the trash, and has a bad habit of finding trouble would only make your life more complicated than it is,” Leech observed. “Besides, if I was sleeping in your guest room, you’d keep getting woken up by all the moaning; lemme tell ya, I’m not exactly the quiet type in the sack.”
“Like that’d bother me,” Kennel scoffed. “I’ve had the guard called on me a hoofful of times and gotten a number of noise complaints myself. As far as I’m concerned, you could be as loud as you want - having said that, if you snag a particularly good lay, you’d have to share with yours truly.”
Though the unicorn held her gaze for only a second before turning away, it was long enough for her to notice something - the briefest flash of sadness or regret. She’d read somewhere that the most cheerful ponies tend to struggle with depression or dour thoughts, but she couldn’t say she’d ever noticed it in somepony before - then again, it wasn’t like she socialized that frequently. After her childhood friends had moved away, starting families or pursuing careers, she’d withdrawn and focused on her studies.
Staying quiet, disinterestedly poking the fire with her stick, she stifled a yawn. “If my plan doesn’t work - heck, even if it does work, what’re you going to do tomorrow?”
“With winter coming on, I’ll probably be hopping a train to head south soon. Appleoosa ain’t exactly a big town, but the folks around there are nice. There are a couple of decent saloons, and the cowponies in town aren’t shy about paying a mare for a little love and attention,” Leech nonchalantly stated. “Just don’t get caught by one of their wives; that can get really sticky. How about you ~ what are you gonna get into once you get home?”
“I’d like to study this spell a little more, but it might be a good idea just to forget all about it. I’ve had invocations misfire or fail, but this has got to be the worst fuckup I’ve ever done - well besides that one time when I thought I could woo a chimera,” she groaned, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “If you think being under a bridge is rough, try sneaking away from a very affectionate monster with three heads.”
Strolling over to the modest stack of wood, Leech grabbed a length of broken timber and started rolling one of the softly steaming rocks toward the trough she’d dug. “Tomorrow morning, before you go, remind me to tell you about when I got really, really drunk and found a bugbear - for now, we should probably hunker down and get comfy. Help me get these in place.”
Working in tandem, under the unicorn’s supervision, the pair had prepared their sleeping space for the night, draped the blanket over the heated soil, and wriggled into the hoodie. It was through sheer dumb luck that the garment happened to be large enough to fit the both of them, with just a touch of extra space to spare, but it made for a decent sleeping back of sorts. Listening to the rain pattering on the ground beyond the overpass, they laid down and rested their heads on their hooves.
“I’ll probably be up before you, but I’ll try to be quiet,” Leech breathed, closing her eyes. “G’night, Kennel.”
Kennel mirrored her host, struggling to keep her eyes open. “Night…”
She’d doubted she’d be either warm or comfortable, yet the improvised bed and the body heat of the mare proved otherwise. With the sound of rainfall in her ears, more exhausted than she cared to admit, she drifted off in what felt like seconds. The last thing she remembered was wondering what she would have done if she hadn’t been lucky enough to have found the resourceful little ragamuffin of a unicorn.
…
“Hey,” a voice called, rousing Kennel from her slumber.
Her haze of waking up was compounded by the momentary confusion of being somewhere unfamiliar, but her memories of the last day came flooding back in an instant. Pushing herself up and into a seated position, with the hoodie draping over her shoulders, she rubbed her eyes and peeked out to see Leech standing over her. Balancing on three legs, the unicorn lifted and bit a piece of dried something in her forehoof.
“What is that?” she groggily inquired, unsure of how the mare had gotten up without waking her.
Holding the leathery substance out, Leech smiled. “Jerky. You want some?”
She recoiled at the word, fighting a wave of involuntary disgust. “You eat meat?”
Leech apathetically shrugged and tore another strip of dried flesh with her teeth. “Yeah. Friend of mine,” she slowly explained, chewing on the mouthful of desiccated muscle, “was a griffon. Ever since I had this stuff as a filly, I’ve had a taste for it. You wanna try some?”
She knew good and damned well that meat eating was frowned upon by most ponies, only tolerated while in the company of omnivores or carnivores, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Salted, dried flesh had a remarkable shelf life, was easy enough to prepare, and she honestly did enjoy the taste. Watching her companion grapple with the concept, clearly put off by the idea, she relented.
“I guess mine aren’t for show,” she teased, swallowing her mouthful and opening her mouth to reveal her canines.
“Clearly,” Kennel grunted, awkwardly freeing herself from the voluminous sweater. Looking out and seeing the skies had cleared, she folded the article and looked over to the partially ground tooth. “I’m gonna get back to it. If I can…” she trailed off, as the unicorn passed her the bundled paper containing the fang.
“Way ahead of you. To be fair, I did tell you that I’d probably wake up before you,” Leech mused, grinning from ear to ear. “Unless there’s anything special you need to do to it, you should be good to go.”
While she didn’t have the foggiest clue as to what her guest needed the powdered tooth for, she’d put herself to work and finished grinding the fang over the last hour or so. The sooner the mare got home, the better off things would be for everypony. While she didn’t mind lending a helping hoof or looking after somepony, having another mouth to feed would be arduous at best and a nightmare at worst. It wasn’t like she didn’t enjoy the company, far from it, but she’d always tended to operate better alone.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Kennel grumbled, taking the proffered parcel. “It’s not like there’s a rush.”
“You ever train-hopped? Know what kind of mushrooms are safe to eat? How about spending a night in the pokey so you don’t get frostbite?” Leech pressed, stepping closer and driving the pegasus back. Seeing the alarmed look on the mare’s face, she smugly grinned. “Yeah, I figured as much. I ain’t doing this to be a dick - I’m doing it because you don’t belong out here.”
The sudden change and harsh questions from her host put Kennel on the backhoof. There was no denying that she was out of her element, and a part of her understood what the unicorn meant - nevertheless, she’d hoped to have a bit of time before she departed. Glowering at the neatly wrapped tooth, she stomped off to the stream’s bank and began etching runes into the soil.
“What’re those things?” Leech asked, inching closer to watch her.
“They’re called sigils. Earth ponies and pegasi in the old days used to have magic like this, but they stopped using it when they allied themselves with unicorns. These marks harness and focus the power of the elements, but there’s a catch; this type of sorcery isn’t nearly as safe or predictable as what unicorns,” she paused, glancing over at the mare, “most unicorns can manage. The slightest error with a line or placement can cause the whole thing to explode - literally explode.”
Leech shifted in place, yet she didn’t back away. “You think that might be how you ended up here?”
Kennel worked her way in a circle, inscribing the dirt as she steadily moved, and shook her head. “I highly doubt it. Considering this invocation is relatively tame, only meant to create a portal, it would have likely fizzled out had I screwed something up,” she commented, stepping back to inspect her work.
That was probably the biggest mystery of the mess - how in the hay something so simple could have breached the walls of reality. If she’d sacrificed something or, the abyss forbid, somepony, she may have been able to explain the interdimensional mishap, yet that wasn’t the case - for fuck’s sake, all she’d used was a tooth that she’d borrowed from a dentist in town! With her brow furrowed, having looked over the runes no fewer than three times, she carefully opened the paper and sprinkled a circle around the inscriptions.
With everything in place, seeing no point in delaying the inevitable, she reached up, plucked a petal from her flower and brought it to her lips. “Aufer me a dilectione mea…”
“I thought you said your juju can’t make something from nothing,” Leech grunted, watching her drop the pedal to the center of the ring of etchings.
“It doesn’t,” Kennel huffed, “I’m using it to focus the power I called upon; think of it like a lens - it’s not making light, just magnifying it.” Having completed her task, the fine white powder carefully filling the various marks she’d made, she hopped back and out of the circle. “Stand back.”
The pair stood motionless, their eyes glued to the glyphs carved into the earth. Seconds passed and nothing happened, until a soft hum filled the air. Seemingly from nowhere, the droning noise grew louder and louder, as the earth vibrated beneath their feet.
“Is - uh - is it supposed to do that?” Leech bleated, shuffling back.
She’d seen all sorts of weird magic before, and even some alchemy that bordered on sorcery, but this - this was different. The smooth stones on the embankment softly clattered together, the air felt charged, and small arcs of carmine power leapt from one rune to another, while the spell gathered power. Though she had no way to tell if the sorcery was working as it was supposed to, a welling feeling of unease grew stronger with every passing moment.
Backpedaling and shaking her, Kennel swallowed hard. “N…no. Something’s not right with -”
“Can you turn it off?!” the unicorn shouted, giving the pegasus her full attention.
“Breaking the circle might dissipate the forces involved, but that would mean - No!” she yelled, seeing her companion dash forward.
Wincing, Leech kicked one of the glyphs from the soil. She didn’t know what was happening - shit, she barely understood what the spell was supposed to do, yet something told her that she needed to put an end to it. There were a number of rules she abided by, things that helped her survive, but one of them sat high above the rest - trust your gut. Rushing to and destroying a second mark, cutting through the dead center of the ring, a bolt of crimson lightning erupted from the symbol she’d just defaced and struck her squarely in the neck.
“Leech!” Kennel yelled, rushing to her friend before the name had left her mouth.
Coming to the mare’s side, heedless of the quaking earth and stones levitating around her, she froze. She knew next to nothing about treating serious injuries, but she could instantly tell things had gone from bad to worse. A smoking, blasted patch of charred flesh rested on Leech’s neck, just above the shoulders, and she was completely motionless.
Adrenaline surged through her, her vision tunneled, and her lungs burned, as she stooped down, grabbed the mare’s hind leg, and started pulling her friend away from the infernal seal she’d created. “Wake up, damn it!”
Her desperate cry went unheard, as she hauled the limp unicorn out of the circle and up the embankment. A gale cut through the air, bolts of power erupted from what remained of the runes, and the droning sound became deafening, yet she could think of nothing else but her companion. Had she been by herself, she would have been the only pony to get hurt - alas, in an attempt to help her, Leech had paid the price.
She only came to a halt when she was a dozen paces away from the havoc she’d unwittingly created, kneeling down beside the mare. The relief she felt seeing that Leech was breathing was immeasurable, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Reluctantly lifting her head and peeking over at the invocation, praying to see some sign of it dissipating, her worst fears were realized. Not only was the spell-work still active, it was somehow getting more intense.
There were perilously few times when she’d felt true dread, yet this was one of them. The urge to flee, to fly away as fast and as hard as she could, screamed at her, clawed at her sanity, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave her friend. Leaning over and taking the mare’s leg, she noticed her companion stir.
Helping the unicorn stand, she gave uneasy glances to the ongoing maelstrom. “Can you walk?”
“The fuck happened,” Leech slurred, listing to the side and nearly falling.
“We need to go,” Kennel firmly stated.
Ushering the unicorn in a small circle, she faced away from the haywire spell - that was until something snagged her leg. Peering over her shoulder, her blood ran cold. Wreathed in eldritch fire, a gaping void in reality hovered over the blasted earth; the sight would have been terrifying in and of itself, yet that wasn’t what broke her composure.
A panicked scream escaped her, as an inky black tendril pulled her toward the wound in reality. She’d known that there were forces beyond comprehension, things that mortals had no right meddling with, but she’d always assumed they were the stuff of nightmares. Fear - raw primitive fear grasped her, stripping her of the ability to think or act, while she dug her hooves into the ground and fought to free herself.
Only just stopping herself from falling, wrenched to the side and driven off balance, Leech watched her friend being dragged away by what she could only call a tentacle. The world spun around her, a coppery taste filled her mouth, and there was an odd pain in her neck, but that didn’t stop her from jumping forward to grab the pegasus’ outstretched hoof. As she braced her legs, trying and failing to wrest her companion from the beast’s grasp, she set her jaw and pulled with all her might.
“I - Cough - I gotcha,” she weakly growled, screwing her eyes shut.
Try as she might, her hooves skidding through the pebbles and sand, she was unable to stop the otherworldly creature’s retreat. Every inch she lost brought Kennel closer to the fell portal, and all she was able to do was watch the pegasus struggle. It was only when she noticed tears streaming down the mare’s face did she finally realize what she had to do.
“Hey,” she whispered, somehow catching her companion’s attention, “take care of yourself…”
The flash of understanding and pure horror in Kennel’s eyes didn’t stop her, as she relaxed her grip, jumped over the mare, and tackled the sinuous appendage. Thrashing violently, her teeth sinking into the monstrosity’s soft flesh, an odd sensation overtook her. Laying in stark contrast to her violent, quite possibly suicidal actions, she felt quite tranquil.
The abomination released the pegasus in the blink of an eye, giving the belligerent unicorn its full attention. Coiling around her body and limbs, joined by a trio of similar tendrils, the long, impossibly strong tentacles hastened their pace in drawing her to the eldritch doorway. She’d been a fuck-up most of her life, making one bad decision after another, but as she looked up and saw her friend, growing further and further away, she smiled.
Kennel barely registered what had happened until it was too late. By the time she got her bearings, she was watching Leech’s lower half disappear into the nothingness of the hovering gateway. In spite of her dread, the sight of her companion’s smile kindled an unbridled rage in her. Flying in the face of reason, abandoning her judgement, she sprang forth and grabbed the mare’s foreleg.
“Just - Nnnngh - fight it!” she blared, only managing to slow the unicorn’s disappearance.
Leech attempted to shake her limb free, knowing it was too late. “Just go! Don’t worry about -”
“Fuck you!” Kennel howled, staring daggers at the mare’s infuriatingly tranquil face. “Your stupid ass should have never tried to help!”
She was only partially aware of what she was saying, but she was too pissed off to care. She was supposed to pay for her mistakes, not some random pony who’d been too kind for her own good! With all the speed and unimaginable force of a glacier, the unicorn slowly disappeared into the nothingness of the hovering portal.
The cold blackness crept up her body and to her neck, leaving a numbness in its wake. She could feel herself slipping, like being submerged into frigid water, and she knew there was no stopping it. Drawing a shuddering breath, she locked eyes with the pegasus and gave the best goodbye she could muster.
“Kennel, I want -”
Kennel tumbled back and fell to the ground, as the unicorn was wrenched from her grasp. The droning noise had stopped, the earth was still, and a soft breeze swept through her mane, as she stared in disbelief down at her empty hooves. Shock - unrefined, cold shock washed over her, but it didn’t stay that way for long.
Lifting her head and peering at the then closing portal, she felt like she’d lost some part of herself. There were no words to describe how she felt, torn between sorrow and confusion, but her righteous fury at being ripped from her friend bubbled to the surface. Only barely aware that she’d bolted to her hooves, feeling her wings unfurl, she leapt through the doorway and winked from existence.